She shrugged.
“Listen to me. Luxtro didn’t do you any good when you were in his Essex. He won’t do you any good now.”
“That’s what you think. Things are different now. There’s been a big change. I’m not afraid of you.”
“Maybe three or four days in the tank will change your mind.”
She heeled around, went to the telephone. I went after her, slapped the receiver from her hand. “You’re not calling anybody.”
“You can’t arrest me. Not without even letting me call a lawyer.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Lois. That’s where you been listening to the wrong people. Maybe I’m not supposed to arrest you like this, but I can. I will.”
“Damn you. Somebody ought to kill you.”
“Maybe they will, Lois. But it won’t be you. And it won’t be in time to keep you out of the pen. Now why don’t you be smart and listen to my deal.”
She walked away from me, spoke over her shoulder. “I’m smart enough to listen.”
I saw tears glinting in her eyes, but they weren’t soft tears. There was nothing soft about her. Not any more. She was diamond-hard.
“All right, Lois. This is it. You clear out of here. You go back home to Josie. There’ll be cops by here to check tomorrow night. If you’re here, you go back to the pen. If you’re not here, I’ll forget I even saw you.”
She stared at me. “A break? You giving somebody a break? What’s the price, cop? What do you want?”
“I want some names from you, Lois. As many names of men who knew Ruby Venuto before she died as you can think of.”
“The poor slobs,” she said. “I hate to put you on their tail, cop. But if it will get you off mine, okay. Seems to me the only one that matters though is that Walker.”
“I want other names besides his.”
Chapter Eleven
When I left the Warwick Arms I thought about calling Peggy. I really wanted to see her. I was keyed up and tense, and knew what I needed. But it was late and I decided not to call her. I’d drive by her place and if there was a light, I’d go up there.
I drove the Olds past her apartment building at about ten miles per hour. There was no light in her windows. I thought about her up there in her bed, warm from her covers, tousled from her pillow.
The pulse started beating at the base of my throat. There was only one reason I didn’t stop the car and get up there right then. I knew I’d spoil what I wanted if I did.
I drove by four times. I told myself maybe she was out at a movie, and would come in, maybe some instinct would tell her I was down here in the dark watching her window. Maybe a light would show. Finally I gave up and drove home.
I knew I ought to eat something, but I didn’t feel like eating, and the way I wanted Peggy was so bad, I wasn’t even sure I could keep food in my stomach.
The phone was ringing when I came into my apartment. I poured myself a stiff drink and stood there listening to it ring.
The drink must have made me feel better. I picked up the receiver. I said, “Hello, Hilma.”
“Where have you been? I’ve been calling all evening. I’m coming over.”
“Damn it. Don’t do it. I’m tired, Hilma. I’ve been working. I’m on a case. You know how it is. I can’t call you every twenty minutes.”
“Looks like you might find time to call once in two days.”
“Good night, Hilma.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Why don’t you ask God? Ask Gilmore.”
“You’re angry. Darling, I haven’t seen him—”
“Good night, Hilma.” I replaced the receiver, flopped in the chair. What was the matter with me? Why had there been this chilled feeling of disinterest in Hilma ever since I’d learned about Donald Gilmore. I couldn’t help it. I’d never had what I wanted in all my life. Every time I thought I had it, and it proved to be something less, it was no good for me, and there was nothing to do but run, move on, find it somewhere. Somewhere? Where?
I fell across my bed, and I couldn’t sleep.
Tom Mellon worked in an office in the Calandar Building. I went up there the next morning at ten. He was the first name on the list Lois had given me last night.
I told him who I was, showed him my badge. He looked physically ill. He got up, went to his door, locked it. He was a big man, well-dressed, with a restless way of moving. I could look at him and read his trouble. He worked hard, he drank hard, he played golf and watched football games and tried to tell himself his married life was good. And he stayed frustrated, and first thing you know, he was sneaking out nights to see Ruby Venuto, and hating himself and not being able to help it.
“I’d like to ask you some questions about Ruby Venuto, Mr. Mellon.”
He didn’t put on any act, I’ll give him that. He mopped the sweat from his forehead. He said, “Oh God.” He stared around the office as if the walls were closing in on him. “What about Ruby Venuto?”
“That’s what I want to know, Mr. Mellon.”
He scrubbed his hands together. “How did you find out I ever knew her?”
“I got your name from a friend of hers, a girl that Ruby shared all her secrets with.”
“Oh God.”
“That’s the way it goes.”
“What kind of trouble is this going to be, Lieutenant? I’m married, you know. This thing could wreck me. In the office here, and at home.”
“I want to know how well you knew her?”
“I might as well tell you the truth. I’ve had the feeling something would come out of this. I tell you I’ve had cold sweats at night. And during that murder investigation. Lieutenant, that door never opened that I didn’t expect it to be some cop. I expected to see my name smeared on the front pages. And then—just nothing. And now, God, a year later, here you are.”
“You ever have any fights with Ruby?”
“Fights with her? What is this, Lieutenant? No. I never had any fights with her. I’d stay away from her until I got drunk, or Edith and I had some kind of fight. Look, Lieutenant, why don’t I tell you? It’s like this with Edith and me. She calls it sex, like it’s something ugly. Maybe once or twice a month she actually is interested. The rest of the time—nothing. And me? I’m a once or twice a day man. My God, I can’t help the way I was made, can I? Well, I go along as long as I can stand it. Then I’d get to drinking and I’d go to see Ruby.”
“How’d you treat her? When you were drinking, I mean?”
“Oh, come on, Lieutenant. How would I treat her? She knew what I wanted. Look, if you mean was I rugged, did I beat her? No. You ask any man that has ever drank with me. When I drink, I don’t get mean. I love everybody when I’m drinking. We never fought. She was good to me. Regular. And she never whined about sex and what a pig I was.”
“Did you ever give her any gifts?”
“Yeah. Sure. I guess so. Look, I’m not interested in trying to reclaim anything if that’s what you mean.”
“How about money? Did you ever give her money?”
He drew some marks on a pad. His hands were sweaty. He wiped them on his handkerchief. “Yeah. Some. Look, Lieutenant, maybe you’re one of these guys who can’t even understand. I—got what I wanted. Hell, I got what I needed. She was good to me. I tried to be good to her. I gave her some gifts. I gave her money. She never asked for it. I was just drunk and felt good, and wanted her to have it. Now, all I want is to forget it.”
“She never threatened you about anything? Or talked about telling your wife?”
“No.”
“Somebody killed her.”
“They got a poor slob in the pen. What’s this all about? I never killed Ruby. My God, if that guy up there is innocent, I’m sorry for him. Don’t you suppose I went nuts during the poor bastard’s trial? He kept saying he was innocent, and he couldn’t prove it, just the way I wouldn’t have been able to prove my innocence if they’d had me up there. All I could think w
as, there but for the grace of God was I— ruined, on my way to the electric chair.”
“Could you give me an alibi for the night of August eighth—the night Ruby was killed?”
He swallowed back the sickness. His eyes were distended. He sat there and shook his head. “Lord no. That long ago. How could I? How could I expect anybody else to remember where I was? I don’t even remember.”
I stood up. “I got a little problem for you, Mr. Mellon. Don’t do anything foolish. I’m not accusing you of anything. Just go right on the way you are. But in a few days, I’m coming back. Before then, you find out where you were that night Ruby was killed. You find out for sure. You remember where you were, and what you were doing. I don’t think it will be half as hard as you say it is, Mr. Mellon, especially when you realize that if you tell me where you were that night, then you can forget all about Ruby Venuto for all the rest of your life.”
Ziggy Eagan lived in a furnished room upstairs over a beer parlor on Post Street. That was not the address I had on him, but that’s where I’d traced him by five o’clock that afternoon.
A blaring jukebox screeched at me all the way up the steps. I knocked on Eagan’s door and heard him moving around like a frantic man.
He finally opened the door. A yellow-fleshed skeleton of a man, he was down to a hundred pounds. His hair was dry and wild on his narrow head. His eyes had the look of a user. He looked as though he had not eaten in a week, and had no interest in food.
He stared at me. Every user and pusher in town knew me, and also knew if they had the right contacts, I would not touch them.
“Lieutenant,” he said. “What you want?”
“I want to talk to you.”
His nose wrinkled, twitched. “Sure, Lieutenant. Come in. Come on in. Sure.”
I closed the door behind me. “How long you been on the stuff, Ziggy?”
“Oh. Bout a year now. Yeah. I guess that’s it.” He laughed jerkily. “What year is it, Lieutenant.”
“About a year after Ruby Venuto was killed. You knew her very well?”
He sat on the bed and let his thin arms hang between his knees. He looked up at me. “I knew her. I was working then. I had a few accounts. I’m an accountant, you know. That’s right. Crystal Room Bar. That’s where I met Ruby. I did their books three or four times a year, handled the old man’s income taxes. Met Ruby there. I fell for Ruby.”
“Took you for plenty, did she?”
“Oh, no. No. Not Ruby. I’ll say this for Ruby. She was after money. She was honest about it. She never joked about money. But the kind of money I had—hell, that was for laughs. She wanted big money—and claimed she knew how to get it.”
“You’re in a mess, Ziggy. How’d you get in a mess like this?”
He blinked six or seven times. The faint light in his room hurt his eyes. “I’m not a pusher, Lieutenant. I want you to know that. I got on the stuff. For kicks. That’s how I met Ruby. I swear. It’s funny when you think back. I was always a skinny guy, scared to do anything. Then I’d drink a little bit, and I’d want a woman. Ruby thought I was the funniest guy she ever met. She always said I handed her laughs. She liked me for laughs. She said I packed more dynamite per pound than any man she ever—I fell for Ruby.”
“Did she get you on the stuff?”
He shook his head. “Nobody got me on it. I got me on it. For kicks. It started out real easy. For kicks. Then it added up. Gambling. Drinking. And my friend Henry. Friend Henry really put on the finish. But it was for kicks. I don’t blame nobody.”
“You know who killed Ruby Venuto?”
He slid back on the bed, leaning on his elbow. His face twitched. “Look, Lieutenant, I’m on the stuff. Lock me up. Send me away. That ain’t going to cure me. But if it makes you do-gooders feel better to watch us poor bastards go stark insane, go ahead, do it.”
“I didn’t say anything about sending you away. I asked you a question. You know who killed Ruby?”
“No, sir. I don’t know. And I don’t want to know. Don’t tell me. If it wasn’t that Walker guy—okay, I don’t know. I don’t want to know. I’m on it, I got the monkey, I got the itch, but I got some sense left. I still got sense enough not to talk about Ruby Venuto. It won’t matter what you do to me.”
Doc Mayhugh was the last name on Lois’s list. His office was a bare room with a desk and two chairs behind Weaver’s Cigar Store. Doc Mayhugh was a bookie. He’d been operating in town since before I went on the force. Except for a few token arrests, he’d never had any trouble. Maybe he’d paid out a few hundred dollars in fines in the past fifteen years.
He looked up from his desk when I walked in. His face was still scarred from an auto accident ten years ago, and when he got worried or excited that long tissue adhesion turned livid. When he saw me, it lighted up.
“What you want, Lieutenant? You ain’t getting hard up enough you’re coming direct to me? You ain’t expecting me to kick in direct? Good Lord, Mike, I’m paying through the nose right now. It’s ruining me, and I’m not lying. I was sitting here right now thinking that if I didn’t pay off, and they called off the protection and the sheriff arrested me, and I went up for five years, maybe I’d be better off.”
“That’s up to you, Doc. I came here to ask you about Ruby Venuto.”
“The poor dead girl?”
“That’s right. I hear you used to bed down with her.”
“On occasion. Like most men that like to gamble, Lieutenant, I ain’t much for women. Once or twice a year, and that’s it. I guess it’s all a release of some kind, and us guys that gamble—we get our release at a dog track, or horse race, or boxing match.” He shrugged. “You can’t have everything.”
“But you knew her pretty well?”
He nodded. “She was a good friend of mine, steered suckers my way once in a while. Gambled a little herself when I had a sure thing.”,
“So she talked to you.”
“Like a father.”
“Look, father, what was wrong? Who was Ruby afraid of?”
He shook his head. “Why, son, as far as I know, Ruby wasn’t afraid of a thing. Why should she be? She had a good time, liked to see other people have fun. Who’d want to harm a sweet little kid like that?”
“I don’t know. But somebody did.”
Doc scowled. “Are you pulling an old man’s leg, Lieutenant? Where you been? They got the man that killed Ruby. Now, I’d swear to this. I met this Earl Walker. He was looking for excitement. That was all he wanted. He met Ruby and started chasing after her, spending money he didn’t have. He got to gambling. Got in over his head—to me. I never could collect. The cops got him. He went a little nuts. Ruby used to tell me. She worried about him. You see, it got so that Earl blamed Ruby for all the bad things ever happened to him.”
Three names on a list, three men, and as far as I could see I’d made a quick turn around the block and ended right where I’d started. Doc Mayhugh’s case paralleled the state’s case against Earl Walker. That would seem to be it. Unless you looked at it as Peggy Walker asked you to look at it. If you believed Earl Walker innocent, then somebody was lying. If I had to choose between Peggy Walker and old Doc Mayhugh as to which was truthful, I’d choose Peggy, even allowing for her prejudice in Earl’s favor.
If everything was just as Doc Mayhugh said, and as the state had proved it, what had happened to Tino Gonsmart? Where had he run to—immediately after that trial?
No. I didn’t think I was right back where I started. Maybe it was Peggy Walker’s faith working on me, but whatever it was, I believed that Doc Mayhugh was lying. And just knowing that much put me another long step ahead.
Chapter Twelve
When I walked into the detective bureau at headquarters, Ernie Gault jumped up from his desk and came over to mine.
“Been hanging around, Mike, hoping you’d come in.”
I glanced up at him. “Okay, Ernie. How much you want this time?”
His face got white as though I’d
hit him. “No, Mike. That’s not it. I’m sorry, Mike.” He held out a slip of paper. “Some guy has been trying to get you, four times in the past hour. He said for you to call this number.”
I took the slip of paper, looked at the number he’d scrawled on it. Call Ring-8096.
I said, “Thanks.”
I didn’t look up. Gault went on standing there. Finally I lifted my head. He looked ill, worried, and about ninety years old.
“All right,” I said. “Shove. So we both know this is a phony number. There’s no such exchange. All right. I’ll call when I get time. Don’t worry about it.”
“I am worried, Mike.”
“Don’t be such a Christer.”
“I’m not a Christer, Mike. I know. I’m no better than any other man. But, look, Mike, how about a beer? Huh? We’re off duty. Let’s go have a beer.”
He leaned forward across my desk. His whisper was tense, nervous. “Mike, listen, they’re after you big. The commissioner himself. They had us in on the carpet, Mike. All of us. Every guy that’s ever worked a shift with you.”
I shrugged. “I hope you remembered to say sir and bow every three minutes.”
“You’re damned right I did. Mike, this is for keeps. I don’t know what stirred it up. But I do know they’re after you.”
“They were after my old man once, too. Remember? And they broke him. They drove him nuts. The sons of bitches broke his heart and threw him off the force. Just because he made the wrong people mad. You worry about the stinking slobs, Ernie. I’m damned if I will.”
He knotted his fists against the desk top. His mouth worked. “This is the works, Mike. It’ll make us all look nasty. Think what you’re doing to the rest of us. If you think this is some damned whitewash thing, you’re wrong.”
I shrugged. “It sure as hell had better be.”
I got up, put my hat on. Ernie was staring at me. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means keep your skirts clean, fellow. They broke my old man, they ruined him, and went right on smelling like lilacs. That was my old man. This time the sewer is going to erupt in their faces.”
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